1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a cupholder for a container in a vehicle, and more specifically, to a cupholder assembly that is extendable and retractable from a horizontal open position to a vertical stowed position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically vehicle cupholders have included a variety of vehicle packaging devices and locations within the interior vehicle space to accommodate retaining a container of a beverage such as a cup. Numerous mechanisms have been incorporated in vehicles to retain cupholders. These mechanisms usually include retractable devices, of types that have required large and deep recess in an interior console compartment to store the cupholder, such an elongated tray that is slidable or foldable and stowed lengthwise into an interior compartment. This requires the interior compartment to include a large packaging compartment to accommodate the device. Compartments such as an interior of an armrest usually contains a large sufficient amount of unused space to accommodate these devices. Such devices often require something other than a simple maneuver on the passengers part to stow or retrieve the cupholder such as opening the armrest lid and folding or unfolding the device and shutting the lid. These and other devices also require the assembly of numerous sub-components to produce the final product. It is important that a cupholder maintain simplicity from a manufacturing and end user perspective and minimize the number of operations for opening and closing of the device as needed, especially for a driver of a vehicle, and yet require a minimum amount of packaging space.